AL Central Notes: Tigers, Cespedes, Indians, Twins

Before signing Justin Upton, the Tigers were also in on free agent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, as Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. Detroit was open to a reunion with the slugger, but they liked Upton “slightly more.” The Tigers offered Cespedes a four-year deal, but had the Upton agreement not come together, they could have potentially gone to five years, Heyman says.

Some Indians fans have been critical of the team’s decision to sign Mike Napoli, Rajai Davis, Juan Uribe, and Marlon Byrd (minor league deal) to one-year pacts rather than make one high-priced free agent splash this winter. Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer explained the Tribe’s thinking a little bit while pointing out the pitfalls of pricey multi-year deals, like the ones given to Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn. The Indians wound up committing ~$104MM to both players and recently they had to trade both veterans to try and unload a portion of that money.

Carlos Quentin has a June 1st opt-out in his deal with the Twins, assistant GM Rob Antony tells Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press (on Twitter). However, there’s also a “gentleman’s agreement” to cut him loose prior to that date if the team does not have big league plans for him. Quentin appeared destined for retirement before he had a change of heart during the offseason.

Ryan Sweeney has a straight minor-league deal with no opt-out clause or right to demand his release, Antony tells Berardino (on Twitter). Sweeney sat out the 2015 season in an effort to allow his body to heal from multiple ailments. While he was out of the game, the veteran collected on the $2MM still owed to him by the Cubs.

Outfielder Darin Mastroianni also has a straight minor-league deal with the Twins, according to Berardino (Twitter link). The assistant GM says that the 30-year-old (31 in August) didn’t even ask the club for an opt-out due to his comfort with team brass. Mastroianni signed on with Minnesota in December.

Twins are looking good in OF depth. Quentin probably deserves a spot on the bench as he’s played well so far. What to do with Arcia is the question. Sadly he’ll likely go north since he’s out of options. I also feel Buxton needs some work in Rochester until he figures it out offensively. Having 2 more guys in Sweeney(who’s played well too) and Mastroianni on straight MiLB deals is pretty nice.

Quentin might be putting up decent numbers in spring training but he should come nowhere close to the 25 man roster. He does not play a position outside of DH, didn’t play in 2015 and in the last season he played batted .177. Its very similar to the Kubel situation in 2014, which did not end well.

A gentlemen’s agreement? Should we say huzzah now.? This isn’t medieval England, it would be foolish of the Twins to cut him before that date. What if they don’t think they are going to use him on May 15th and then on May 25th they lose someone for the season? Not likely, but injuries do happen all the time. If Quentin wanted an earlier out than June 1st, then he should have insisted it be in the contract and the Twins would have probably complied. But he did sign it and should live up to it.

“Gentleman’s agreements” between teams and veteran players are common, if not always reported. It’s a matter of courtesy. It could be a matter of allowing him to catch on with another team if an injury should arise and there’s a clear path for an mlb vet. I won’t call it tampering, but all teams benefit from time to time by this.

The only way he won’t have a path to the majors is if a prospect breaks out and passes him on the depth chart. The Twins would then replace an injured player with the prospect, instead of Quentin. The Twins won’t let themselves be short handed. They won’t just release him to release him. If he is cut, it will be because they don’t see a need for him.

I think we’ve heard one side of that “Gentleman’s agreement” It appears that either the White Sox allowed an insane full clubhouse access for a child, or LaRoche absolutely abused the agreement. I just see no way that a team would allow full access without atleast a verbal agreement in place to remedy the situation should there be need to. Of all execs I don’t see Kenny Williams saying, “great, Adam, sign with us and Drake is welcome 24/7.” Yeah, well…it could have been stated somewhat like that…but there’s obvious implication that “within reason” applies.

For whatever reason, KW became the fall guy. LaRoche chose to walk away and not address it internally…KW called his bluff.

I see people talk about growing up in the clubhouse…some have been from children of college coaches…which is a different scenario..but I’ve even seen that turn out badly…college players have no ability to rid themselves of some brat.

I’m sure many kids have been around big league clubhouses….but not on a 140 game level. That’s asking for trouble.